Las Vegas race 'true' test for new Generation 6 car

NASCAR tested its new Generation 6 racecar throughout the offseason and has raced it at two tracks to begin the 2013 season, but the most critical test for the new car could be Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“Las Vegas kind of sets the tone for what the racing is going to be like,” said Ricky Stenhouse Jr., a Sprint Cup Series rookie who drives the No. 17 car.

That’s because the racetrack at Las Vegas is the same length, 1.5 miles, as eight of the 23 tracks that host a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

The quality of the race at Las Vegas will likely be a preview of the what fans will see for much of the season, Stenhouse Jr. said.

“I think it’s going to be a true test to how they will really race and what kind of action we will see,” Stenhouse Jr. said.

The series has already raced at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway and the 1-mile Phoenix International Raceway, but those are two different types of tracks, and neither is similar to the Las Vegas track.

At Daytona, NASCAR requires cars to run restrictor plates that reduce horsepower and keep cars in one pack throughout an entire lap.

Phoenix, on the other hand, is a flat track that does not produce comparably high speeds, but it does place an emphasis on downforce and requires cars to rotate well through the turns.

Las Vegas is in between. It has high-banked corners that allow for fast speeds, but the cars don’t have restrictor plates and aerodynamics are an important factor in how well a car navigates the track.

And Daytona 500 champion Jimmie Johnson said he thinks it will be the best race of the three.

“I feel when we get to Vegas, we will have a downforce track under our belts, we’ll have a chance to see an amazing race at Vegas, great side-by-side racing that everybody will want to see,” Johnson said.

Stenhouse Jr. said the new car is more comfortable for drivers to race, which should allow drivers to race closer to one another compared to previous car models.

“I think that’s what (NASCAR is) kind of banking on to come through and make for some great racing,” Stenhouse Jr. said.

But that might not happen immediately, Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage said Monday at Media Day.

“Sunday may be great, it may not be,” he said. “New cars take years. They are never done. There is a lot to learn about this car.”

Carl Edwards, who won last week’s race at Phoenix, said he would like to have the cars depend less on aerodynamics, but he also expects to hear wide-ranging opinions about how to tweak the new car after the race at Las Vegas.

“If I could wave my magic wand, I'd say we'd have cars with no downforce and half the grip that we have, and you'd have cars out there running three wide, sideways, fighting for track position and making spring adjustments during pit stops and all that,” Edwards said.

“With that being said, NASCAR wants that same thing. It's just we haven't been able to nail down the parameters of the racecar that you'd change to get it.”

Stenhouse Jr. said NASCAR has already accomplished part of its agenda for the new car by how it looks, but the next step is to make sure the cars are able to produce action-packed races.

“The fans are already excited about the identity that we have with these racecars, so that’s a step in the right direction,” he said.